Shoot Or Run

Chapter 7

  Mom and I sat in our room. I see mom walking over to the ventilation and raised her hand to feel the air. But mom's expression seemed strange. "Mom? Something wrong?" I asked. "Nothing. It's just ... The air conditioning stopped," She said. The lights began to flicker.

Mom and I got out of the room and saw that everyone get out of their room too. "Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?" Carol asked Jenner, who was wearing a lab coat and had this odd look on his face, walked past us. "What's going on?" Daryl asked as he appeared out of his room with a bottle of whisky in his hand. "Why is everything turned off?" He asked and Jenner takes the bottle out of Daryl hand and kept walking.

"Energy use is being prioritized," Jeremiah said, as we all followed him. "Air isn't a priority? And lights?" Dale asked. "It's not up to me. Zone 5 is shutting itself down," Jenner said. As soon as he said that, the lights went out. Carl grabbed my hand as we followed our moms and the rest of the group, following Jenner.

"What the hell does that mean?" Daryl asked. But, Jenner didn't say a word as enter Zone 5. "Hey man, I'm talking to you. What do you mean it's shutting itself down? How can a building do anything?" Daryl asked angrily. "You'd be surprised," Jenner said just as Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn run up the stairs.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick asked. "The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule," Jenner said, pointing at the digtal clock. 31:28, 31:27.

Jenner took a sip of the whisky and handed back to Daryl. "It was the French," He said. "What?" Mom asked. "They were the last ones to hold out as far as I know. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, they stayed in the labs till the end. They thought they were close to a solution," He said.

"What happened?" Jacqui asked. "The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice," He replied. He pointed around at the place. "The world runs of fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

Shane runs up the stairs, over to Jenner. "Let me tell you-" But Rick cut him off as he grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "To hell with it, Shane. I don't even care," Rick said and then turned and look at us. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!" He ordered.

All of us were going to run, when the sound of an alarm going off stop us. "30 minutes to decontamination," Vi's voice rang out and the screen where Jenner showed us that video of TS-19, was replace by a countdown. I rushed to Mom and Lori with Carl. "Doc, what's going on here?" Daryl screamed. Jenner said nothing, he just walked over to a computer and was doing something.

"Everybody, y'all heard Rick. Get your stuff and let's go! Go now! Go!" Shane shouted at us. Mom grabbed my hand and we all took off, trying to get out, when all of a sudden the doorway that lead to the outside of Zone 5, was blocked by a metal door.

"He just locked us in!" Glenn shouted. Mom pulled me closer to her. Jenner sat down at one of the computer and started taking to it. "You son of a bitch!" Daryl shouted. He ran up to Jenner and tackled him. Shane and T-Dog got a hold of him and pulled him off of Jenner.

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now," Rick ordered. "There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed," Jenner said calmly. "Well, open the damn things," Daryl said. "That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that," Jenner said. "It's better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick asked Jenner as he approached him, but he didn't give him an answer. "What happens in 28 minutes?!" Rick yelled at him and kicked his chair, causing Jenner look at him.